Nonni's Bench- Recovered- Finally

This is one of those projects that I have put off for a couple years.  I received this bench from my Grandmother after she passed away. It was part of a whole bedroom suite that sadly was divided up among people.  My parents have the armoire, someone else has the headboard and I am sure someone else has the dresser.  There was a little table that had a mirror that this little bench sat at.  I do not have that either.

Don't get me wrong.  I am not broken up about it because of my Grandmother.  Its material stuff to me.  I have a mirror from her, this bench and a crocheted bedspread that she made for the twin bed I slept in as a child. I am all set.

Truth be told when I was a child and we would go to her house in Carbondale PA, there was something I wanted her to give me.  I was probably about 8 or 9 at the time.  She, around 75.  She lived in this house set on a hill.  Up at the top of the hill, behind a tree line was a lumber yard.  Beyond the trees you could see planks of wood piled high.  I would have adventures with any kids in the neighborhood I could find to play with me.  We would go up the hill and pretend we were in the woods with African animals all around us.  Or we were Pirates looking for our buried treasures some where.

One time I remember going off by myself and finding my way into the house of one of her neighbors.  They were an older couple who had a piano.  They let me sit and play and applauded my efforts.  They gave me ribbon candy that I thought was the coolest EVER.  I thought that there undivided attention was pretty cool too! I will tell you that my parents upset when I returned to my Grandmothers house made the experience even more indelibly etched in my mind.  They had no idea where I was and were sick with worry.  I felt pretty bad but I also remember feeling very torn because how could something that felt so fun and right be so wrong at the same time. Sigh!

Anyway, what I really longed for at my Grandmothers house was her claw foot bath tub.  I thought it was the coolest.  Many years later, I was saddened to hear, after her house was sold, it was at the curb.  Such a sad demise to a beautiful tub.  Into my teen years I thought about that tub!  Loved it.  My Grandmother lived way past the sale of her house, just in case you were wondering.  She came to live with us for a while.

I was in college then, taking lots of psychology courses but also Social Work, which was my major.  Of course, I thought I was an expert but I definitely saw the dementia/confusion.  One day, she told me that Scorpio, of General Hospital, came over on the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.  Really?  She was about 93 at the time, a little slip of a person.  Old school Italian, broken English and all. She was cute if not for the mean things she would like to say to me over the years I grew up.  For an Italian to forget about Columbus... Thats pretty huge!

The bench is kind of ratty these days.  I knew it was time to spruce it up but there is always something more appealing to do.  But aren't you glad when you get one of those kind of projects done.  The kind you have been sitting on.  Kind of like a Mama Chicken on her baby eggs.

One of my earlier posts is here... all about how to recover a chair cushion.  On this one, I put a whole new pad (foam), with batting in there. I am sure there are a ton of You Tube videos that show you how to do it as well.

I kept the tag on the bottom because I think it is pretty cool.